Financial research providers such as brokerage and investment banking firms spend large sums of money creating, printing and distributing thousands of graphic-rich research reports to investors (e.g., customer's, remote sales offices, investment advisors, brokers, portfolio managers, etc.). Research providers seeking to reduce costs may consider distributing these reports electronically, from computer to computer. Electronic distribution is generally cost effective when compared with hard copy distribution methods. Global computer networks, such as the Internet, enable information to be distributed to a wide range of people at locations around the world. One of the many advantages of the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web ("WWW"), is that the communication protocols used are non-proprietary, thus enabling end users to access and use the Internet without the need for customized hardware or software.
Often, research providers wish to provide information to investors or users on a controlled basis. In particular, research providers may wish to provide reports only to particular people, while ensuring that other people (such as, for example, competitors) are not provided with such reports.
Additionally, research providers may wish to control access to reports due to laws or regulations under which the research providers must operate. For example, a research provider may wish to prevent particular users from accessing particular documents in order to comply with certain SEC regulations. When a research provider has a current banking or financial interest in a public company that is the topic of a research report (i.e., a "restricted company"), the research provider may be required by law to restrict its private internal clients from accessing the report. More specifically, SEC laws restrict research providers from influencing the research providers' private clients in any way with regard to a restricted company.
Accordingly, there is a need for a procedure that allows a research provider to restrict research related to restricted companies from being accessed by private clients and investors.
Additionally, when an external event occurs, i.e., a "news" event, a research provider may believe its "opinion" (as reflected in a report, for example) about a particular public company, may change. Accordingly, the research provider may wish to indicate to its investors that the company is "under review." That is, some news event has occurred that is believed to materially affect a public company's financial performance, and therefore the research provider's opinion. For example, assume that a research provider issues a report regarding a particular public company, and that company relies on the availability of a natural resource from a foreign country. If a war breaks out in that supplier company, and thus the public company can no longer acquire that natural resource from the supplier country (due to an embargo, for example), the research provider's opinion regarding the public company may change. Accordingly, there is a need for a procedure that provides a research provider with the ability to indicate to its clients and investors that a particular company is under review.
Also, when a research provider has "no opinion" about a particular public company on which the research provider previously issued an opinion (in the form of a research report, for example), the research provider may wish to indicate to its clients and users that the particular company is under "extended review." This would indicate that previous research reports (and therefore opinions) related to the public company are no longer valid, i.e., the research provider is not "covering" the public company for events that might impact previously rendered opinions.
Accordingly, there is a need for a procedure that allows a research provider to filter or restrict earlier-rendered opinions and reports, or somehow indicate to clients and investors that a company is under "extended review."